Braids
by Brentinator
Summary: MJ wasn't a girly girl, by any means. She's much rather listen to Indie Rock and sketch people in crisis. But, she did like one thing. Braiding hair. For a friend's birthday!


**So this is a birthday fic for a really good friend of mine, and IDK if she wants me to say her name, or even if she wants me to write Meter like this. But, I hope you guys like it!**

 **And now, on with the story!**

MJ (or Michelle, but she hated being called that) had never been a girly girl. Dresses and pop music disgusted her, and she'd rather draw while listening to Indie rock.

But if there was one thing she loved that was considered "girly", it was braiding hair.

She didn't know why it was calming to have someone form her hair into a braid, or why doing one on someone else calmed her down, but it probably had something to do with the fact she and her mom would have "girls nights" by watching the first Harry Potter movie and braiding each other's hair before she died when MJ was ten.

When her and her dad moved from Manhattan to Queens shortly after she died, she had a lot of trouble making friends, and so she turned to art instead of conforming into the girly personality she hated.

Then she met Peter and Ned.

Those two nerds were attached at the hip and went together like peanut butter and bananas (cause jelly is gross), and she was attracted to Peter for some odd reason, but, she wasn't in the mood for boys.

Then shortly after she met them (as in a quick "hello" in the hallway and Peter sitting in front of her in class), Peter and Ned started sitting at the same lunch table as her. Peter even gave her his apple and Ned started calling her MJ.

Needless to say, some sort of "friendship" developed between them, even if she wouldn't admit it.

Then high school came.

Ned and Peter were still attached at the hip, but Peter started distancing himself once he got back to school after throwing up on a field trip to Oscorp in front of everyone, and six months later when people found out about his internship at Stark Industries.

MJ wasn't dumb. As soon as Peter came back to school, Spider-Man showed up and started going around saving Queens. She had a feeling that Tony Stark had noticed the same thing she did.

While she couldn't be 100% sure, she had a feeling in her gut that Spider-Man was Peter Parker.

At least, she wasn't sure.

She had been doing her homework in her room, listening to Bastille and waiting for her dad to get home from work so they could go get dinner, and that's when she heard a thunk in the direction of her bathroom.

Fearing the worse, she grabbed a wooden pole that she had dubbed her "bopping stick" when she found it on her way home from school, and had unfortunately had to use it when someone had broken in while her father was gone two years ago, and went into her bathroom. But what she saw shocked her more then someone breaking in.

The window was open, there were muddy footprints on the light blue wallpaped, and Spider-Man was sitting on the floor, rubbing his head.

"S-Spider-Man?" She stuttered, dropping the pole, making him sit up straight and start to stand, but he failed and opted to be propped against the sink.

"Oh god. I am so sorry for intruding, MJ-...shit."

"Yeah. Peter, what the hell are you doing?!"

"Please be quiet." He begged, yanking off his mask with his right hand and brushing his sweaty hair back. "I h-hurt my left wrist pretty badly, and I was heading to the Avengers compound so I could get it taken care of, but then I knocked my foot on a metal pole and I felt it snap, and so I saw your apartment and figured you would help Spider-Man."

"And not notice it was you?" MJ demanded, crossing her arms. "You have a very prepubescent voice."

"I have a voice changer in my suit, I just-ow-forgot about it. Can you help me now?"

"Come on, I have some clothes that'll fit your tiny nerd body."

She helped him off the floor, and let him use the bopping stick as a crutch, and they walked together to her room where she tossed her plaid pajamas pants and a oversized Mickey Mouse t-shirt at him before going to find the first aid kit.

When she came back, he was laying on her bed and texting someone on his phone, and she had to tap his good foot to get his attention.

"I was right about my clothes fitting you." She grinned, before turning serious again. "So, where did you get hurt and how bad?"

"My left wrist is a grade one sprain, my left ankle is fractured, and I have a mild concussion."

MJ gaped at him. Yeah, they were both in a school for really smart kids, but even she couldn't tell how he knew that, so she asked, and the answer made more sense.

"The AI in my suit, Karen, scanned me while I was still in the suit. As soon as she told me my foot was fractured, I ended up coming here instead of continuing my trip to the compound."

She nodded, and with instructions from WebMD and guidance from Peter (apparently this wasn't his first wrist sprain) she put his wrist in a splint, wrapped it up, put it on a couple of pillows and grabbed a bag of frozen corn out of the freezer, putting it on his wrist after wrapping it in a towel.

Then she had to move onto is fractured ankle. So, once again, she googled what to do and elevated it with a pillow, wrapped up another bag of frozen corn (seriously, why did her dad have so much corn in the freezer?) and laid it on his ankle.

She then gave him a final bag of frozen corn wrapped up for his head, and took a deep breath, trying to calm down when Peter asked her if she was okay.

"Y-yeah. The most first aid I've ever done was when I gashed my knee and had to take care of it while my dad was on his way home. I'm just a bit shaken." She admitted, grabbing a wet washcloths and dabbing at a cut on his face. "Are you sure you're gonna be okay?"

"I'll be fully healed in awhile. We just need to wait." He told her, and shortly after, he felt a slight tugging on his hair. "What are you doing?"

"Braiding your hair. It's how I calm down. Your hair is pretty short, but I've braided shorter. Do you not want me to?"

"No, no. It's fine. I'm just gonna..." he paused to yawn, before finishing his sentence. "Get some sleep."

"Alright." MJ smiled at him, finishing the small braid before sitting down in the chair beside her bed. "I'll wake you up in a couple hours."

Peter didn't respond, but his eyes closed pretty quickly, and she heard a light snore come him, almost making her laugh, but she shouldn't have been surprised that his snore was so tiny.

She tried to go back to her homework, but, despite how much she didn't want to admit it, was worried about Peter.

So, she gently separated three pieces of his hair, and started to braid them together.

The End.


End file.
